PS4 to outsell Xbox One unless Microsoft unbundles Kinect – IDC

Now that the dust has settled down on the hype of next-gen consoles, we are finally getting to see a clear pictures of who is leading the console war and up till now, it appears that Sony’s PlayStation has the advantage over Microsoft’s Xbox. But that might change soon if Microsoft alters their strategy.

A new report from International Data Corporation (IDC) claims that the PS4 would have sold 51 million units globally by 2016, thus beating the Xbox One by quite a margin. However IDC believe that Microsoft would be able to make a serious comeback, at least in North America, if they decide to unbundle kinect. It is also possible that un-bundling would result in Microsoft taking the lead in that region

According to GamesIndustry, who got a early preview of the report from IDC,

“The presumed unbundling of Kinect and Xbox One, which should facilitate rough price parity between it and the PS4, should lead to a spike in Xbox One sales; assuming the console and sensor are unbundled in 2015, IDC expects Xbox One to recover and emerge with the largest installed base of any console in North America by the end of 2016,”

It should be noted that currently, the PS4 is beating Xbox One, in terms of sale, a wide margin and this is trend was expected to grow.

The report also suggests that Nintendo’s Wii might receive “the equivalent of a $50 price cut worldwide in late 2014 or early 2015,” but it won’t be enough to reduce the install base difference between Wii and the other competitors.

Coming to the software side, the report suggests that overall, the retail business would continue to decline and according to their forecasts, “eighth generation consoles will generate about 10 percent less retail revenue from console hardware and disc-based games than seventh generation (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii) consoles did combined through their first six years on the market.”

At the end, IDC estimates that the physical disc sales would decline by almost 45% due to the increased digital distribution channels. They also expect that by 2019, almost half of the sales would be through online retailers.

The complete report titles, “Worldwide Video Game and Entertainment Console Hardware and Packaged Software 2014-2018 Forecast” would be almost 73 pages long and it would be made available later this week